AI and drones to restore wildfire-damaged forests in Andong

[Financial News] SK Telecom and Yuhan-Kimberly are working to restore forests in areas affected by the Andong wildfire using artificial intelligence (AI) and drones.
They plan to extend restoration work to steep slopes that are difficult for people to access and use observations of changes in vegetation and tree growth to inform long-term forest management.
SK Telecom announced on the 30th that it had held a seminar with Yuhan-Kimberly, the incorporated association Peace Forest, and nature-tech startup InveLab to share the status of forest restoration and plans for the future.
At the seminar, the four organizations shared progress on the Andong Peace Forest project, which they are jointly undertaking. Since March, SK Telecom and Yuhan-Kimberly, together with Peace Forest, have planted 10,000 trees across 4.4 hectares of wildfire-damaged land, including mountain cherry, Japanese raisin, linden, painted maple and Japanese snowbell trees.
SK Telecom expanded restoration work to steep slopes using AI and drone technology with InveLab. AI-based spatial analysis was used to examine terrain, waterways and sunlight conditions to identify environments suitable for restoration. Drones also scattered 10,000 seed balls made by mixing seeds of native plants needed for tree growth with soil and nutrients.
The four organizations used AI and drones to observe changes in vegetation and the growth of trees in the affected areas. They also identified areas where additional trees need to be planted and the distribution of invasive plant species. They plan to continue tracking changes in vegetation and improve their forest management system based on the data collected.
Since signing a business agreement in September last year to strengthen their ESG efforts, SK Telecom and Yuhan-Kimberly have worked together on restoring wildfire-damaged areas, resource circulation, biodiversity conservation and environmental activities involving employees. This past September, they held an electronic-waste resource-circulation campaign and planted trees at the Honeybee Forest in Yeoncheon, Gyeonggi Province. On the 23rd, they took part in restoring trees and green spaces in the Changgyeonggung Palace area.
Eom Jong-hwan, head of SK Telecom’s Sustainability Management Office, said, “We will pursue the long-term restoration of areas affected by the Andong wildfire by combining SK Telecom’s AI capabilities with Yuhan-Kimberly’s experience in the environment and forestry,” adding, “We will expand ESG cooperation where the two companies can create synergies.”

[email protected] Yoon Hong-jip Reporter